Display stand for sunglasses or spectacles



July 26, 1955 J. c. FOSTER 2,713,947

' DISPLAY STAND FOR SUNGLASSES OR SPECTACLES Filed Jan. 15, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. JZj6F/I 6. Fagrfz? July 26, 1955 J. C. FOSTER DISPLAY STAND FOR SUNGLASSES 0R SPECTACLES Filed Jan. 15, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. (7016161 6'. 1 2 76, BY

l/ffaerkFf/ July 26, 1955 J. c. FOSTER 2,713,947

DISPLAY STAND FOR SUNGLASSES OR SPECTACLES Filed Jan. 15, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

DISPLAY STAND FOR SUNGLASSES OR 'SPECTACLES Joseph C. Foster, Leominster, Mass., assignor to Foster Grant Co., Inc., Leominster, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application January 15, 1952, Serial No. 266,467

1 Claim. (Cl. 211-13) This invention relates to a display stand for supporting sunglasses or spectacles, and more particularly to a stand or rack of the folding type having shelves or brackets upon which the articles to be displayed are supported.

Heretofore sunglasses and the like have usually been displayed on cards. Among the objections to the use of a display card is that it does not render visible the entire article since portions thereof, such as parts of the temples, are normally concealed from view behind the card; with use of the ordinary display card it is difficult to remove or replace the article; and, moreover, the card must necessarily be wider than the article mounted thereon, thus occupying an undesirable amount of space when dis played on a counter or in a window.

Having in mind the disadvantages of the ordinary display cards, it is an object of my invention to provide a display stand that will occupy a minmum amount of space on a counter or other location where the articles are to be displayed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a display stand upon which the articles may be easily placed or replaced, and from which they may be readily taken for examination by a customer, or for any other purpose.

A further object of the invention is to provide a display stand upon which the article on display is supported so as to be visible in its, entirety without the necessity of removing it from the stand.

A still further object is to provide a display stand of this character that is foldable for convenience in shipment and handling.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a folding display stand or rack embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 22 showing in plan view one of the shelves or brackets for supporting the sunglasses to be displayed, the latter being indicated by dot and dash lines.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1, showing in plan view the top bracket or shelf of the stand, with a case enclosing a sunglass supported thereon, the latter being shown in dot and dash lines;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on lines 6-6 of Fig. 5. In this figure a fragment of the sunglass case is shown in dot and dash lines;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged section in elevation taken on the line 7--7 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a vertical section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

'Fig. 9 is a fragmentary enlarged view of the upper portion of the prop that supports the stand;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 1010 of Fig. 1 showing the detachable hooked engagement of the rear end of the strut with the prop;

United States Patent 0 2,713,947 Patented July 26, 1955 Fig. 11 is a cross-section taken on the line 11-11 of Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 1212 of Fig. 1 showing the pivotal engagement of the front end of the strut with the brace or main supporting member of the stand; I

Fig. 13 is a sectional view taken on the line 1313 of Fig. 12; and

Fig. 14 is a vertical section taken on the line 1414 through the foot of the stand of Fig. 1.

All the parts of the stand are preferably made of molded plastic material although they may be made of any other suitable material. The stand comprises a brace or main supporting member 10. The lower end of this member has a foot or legs 11 upon which it stands on a counter or other support. The upper end portion is formed with crosswise extending integral arms 12 that are preferably curved at their outer ends and provided with outwardly extending, widened flanges 13 at said ends, as seen in Fig. 5. The member 12 is designed to support a case 14 containing a pair of sunglasses, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 6. The arms 12 may be eliminated or substituted by an additional shelf 18, as desired.

A series of supporting blocks 15 are formed on or fixed to the brace member 10 at spaced apart points thereon.

The front of each block has two spaced apart parallel forwardly extending walls 16, and two openings 15' are formed in the block. These blocks serve to support the shelves or brackets 18. Each shelf has a flange portion 19 that fits on the supporting block 15 between the walls 16 thereof and is formed with two stems or pins 17 that are inserted into the openings in the block and that are headed at their inner ends, as best seen in Fig. 2, to attach the shelf permanently to its supporting block.

Each shelf has a flat horizontal portion 20 formed with a concavely curved or irregular shaped front edge having, extending about said edge, an upstanding wall 21. As seen in Fig. 2, each shelf is wider at its ends than at its middle portion, and the wall 21 is higher at its end than at the middle. Each shelf may have a central strengthening rib 20.

The brace 10 is supported by a prop 22 so that in erected position of the stand the brace member, with its supporting shelves, will lean rearwardly, as in Fig. 1. The prop may be of triangular form comprising a top cylindrical member 23, two diverging legs 24, and a crosspiece 25. The top member 23 is engaged between the pairs of arms 26 that project rearwardly from the brace 10 at either side thereof, as seen in Fig. 8. This provides a pivotal connection of the parts that permits the prop to be folded away from or towards the brace as desired. A solid portion 27 may be provided between the upper ends of the arms of the prop, as shown in Fig. 9, which portion may have an opening 28 formed therethrough to permit of hanging the stand or rack on a hook or nail instead of placing it on a counter or other fiat surface.

A strut 29 connects the prop with the brace at their lower portions. The front end 30 of the strut may be hooklike in form to engage a pin 31 that extends across a slot 32 formed in the lower portion of the brace, as seen in Figs. 12 and 13. The rear end 33 of the strut, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11, is bent downward and formed with a slot 34 that engages over the center of the crosspiece 25 between the lugs or projections 35 formed thereon. In folding or unfolding one end of the strut, preferably the end 32, is engaged with or disengaged from the prop or the brace, as the case may be.

A sunglass, indicated by the dot and dash lines 36 in Fig. 1, is supported loosely on each shelf 18 of the set of shelves by merely resting the temples 37 thereon, with the front of the sunglass frame hanging over the front edge of the shelf. In the drawings only one sunglass 36 is indicated, but in use of the stand for display a glass will be V mounted or supported on each shelf 18 of the set.

With a stand of the construction described it is very simple to mount the glasses thereon, or to remove and replace them as desired. Furthermore, the entire glass as mounted on the stand is visible to an observer. While 1 have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the display stand it will be understood that modifications in the details thereof may be made within the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

A display stand for sunglasses or spectacles, comprising a brace member, a prop member to support the brace member in rearward tilted position, said prop member being hinged to the upper portion of the brace member and being foldable upon the latter, a strut member detachably connecting the lower portions of the brace and prop members in erected position of the stand, and a plurality of shelves supported at intervals on the brace member, each shelf having a substantially concave front edge and widened end portions, said shelves tilting rearwardly and adapted to support a pair of spectacles removably thereon by its temples, with said temples resting loosely by gravity only on the widened end portions of the shelf and with the front of the spectacles overhanging the outer edge thereof, and a vertical wall extending around the forward edge of each shelf to guide the temples into their supporting positions on the shelf.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 891,135 Beach June 16, 1908 1,710,847 Thursby Apr. 30, 1929 1,886,532 Davidson Nov. 8, 1932 1,976,345 Hruby Oct. 9, 1934 2,067,051 Hall Jan. 5, 1937 2,220,953 Carver Nov. 12, 1940 2,433,748 Eide Dec. 30, 1947 2,542,958 Babbitt Feb. 20, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 498,137 France Dec. 30, 1919 

